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Wearables in the Enterprise – What Are Industries Saying?

While wearable devices in the enterprise of late have focused primarily on the healthcare market, there is a strong curiosity and interest by corporations to explore avenues for adoption of different wearable form factors into their respective businesses. So, what are the different industries saying and how are they thinking about wearable technologies?

Manufacturing companies have shown interest in using this technology in their warehouses to be able to gather and complete orders hands-free. Pharmaceutical companies feel the above idea is viable but also see value in extending the device to facilitate training and following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). In the Energy sector, an oil plant operator can connect to have remote information for augmented reality usage while in an Oil refinery or production plant workers could use a wearable device like Google glass as a support tool for maintenance. They could also manage emergency status in industrial sites by exploiting GPS technology. Finally, refineries can use devices as a support tool to share photos of problem areas to engineers or employees with disabilities. These are just a few of the use cases enterprises are talking about. Other industries have similar use cases, including providing devices to personnel that are responsible for restocking supplies.

Based on the above, it is clear that companies are truly thinking seriously about the applicability of wearables in their respective eco-systems. While there is an element of wanting to stay at the “edge” of technology and innovation and to increasingly cater to the millennial generation who are seemingly the early adopters, enterprises are being cautious in large scale investments in the wearables market. In my next post, I will explore the reasons for this.